The Bureau of Industry and Security on June 24 will add three companies associated with Russian cybersecurity company Kaspersky to the Entity List, the agency said in a notice released June 20. The companies, two located in Russia and one located in the U.K., work with Russian military and intelligence authorities, BIS said. They will be subject to license requirements for all items subject to the Export Administration Regulations, and licenses will be reviewed under a presumption of denial.
The Supreme Court of the Netherlands last week sustained the conviction of a person (name redacted) for violating the nation's sanctions laws, according to an unofficial translation. The court found that the accused's transfer of money to the person's brother, who's a fighter for ISIS in Syria, amounted to the transfer of funds to a terrorist organization, in violation of Dutch sanctions laws.
The Bureau of Industry and Security issued two temporary denial orders last week as part of the Biden administration's latest package of Russia-related sanctions and export controls (see 2406120036), targeting companies and people in the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Hong Kong, the British Virgin Islands, Turkey and Indonesia for sending export controlled items to Russia.
Senate Banking Committee ranking member Tim Scott, R-S.C., asked the Treasury Department last week to tell him when it plans to provide lawmakers with an overdue report on Iran sanctions.
The House of Representatives last week approved a proposal that would require the administration to report to Congress on how proceeds from illicit Iranian oil exports are funding Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Tehran’s terrorist proxies.
The U.S. last week sanctioned a “violent, extremist” Israel-based group for blocking convoys of humanitarian aid from being delivered to Palestinians in Gaza. The designation targets Tzav 9, which has worked for months to block roads, damage aid trucks and destroy life-saving equipment destined to Gaza, the State Department said. “We will continue to use all tools at our disposal to promote accountability for those who attempt or undertake such heinous acts, and we expect and urge that Israeli authorities do the same,” the State Department said.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned several people and entities, along with one vessel, for helping to procure weapons for the Iran-backed Houthis or for shipping commodities to fund the Yemen-based group. The designations target procurement officers and companies in China along with others in Oman, Cameroon and the United Arab Emirates.
The Council of the European Union on June 17 extended until June 23, 2025, its sanctions regime related to the annexation by Russia of Crimea and the Ukrainian city of Sevastopol. The sanctions, which had been set to expire this month, include financial restrictions, import and export restrictions, and more.
Canada last week joined other Group of 7 nations in imposing a host of new sanctions and export controls against Russia (see 2406120036 and 2406130017), targeting people and entities involved in Russia-related “disinformation” efforts, companies tied to Russia’s military-industrial complex and entities trying to evade Western sanctions. The country also placed new export restrictions on “computer numerically controlled machine tools” that Russia could use to make weapons, prohibiting people in Canada and Canadians abroad from sending those items to Russia.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is drafting an interim final rule that could introduce a new “Plurilateral Consensus Coalition” country group into the Export Administration Regulations. The rule, sent to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs June 11, would make additions and revisions to the Commerce Control List and put in place a new License Exception Plurilateral Consensus Coalition (PCC) for certain exports to countries in the coalition.